SPEW

Sun, Oct 08

31 HORROR STORIES – "Men Without Bones" (1954)

@ 12:00 PM

Gerald Kersh is another one of those writers who have so many good stories -- and such great titles! -- but the problem with Kersh would be choosing his SECOND best story. "The Dancing Doll", "The Man Who Sold His Head", "A Game Played in the Twilight", and "The Unkillable Man" would all be up there.

But Kersh took a trip into the metaphoric jungle, as well as outside the margins of space and time, for this one. If you're a fan of British gangster films, and are as aware of how influental Kersh's work was on the genre, then this story will confuse and chill you.

An explorer is dying, and tells a fellow passenger on his boat about discovering a crashed alien spaceship deep in the darkest jungle. And then, before he dies, he lets slip the even WORSE thing he discovered.

I know everyone likes "Sweets for the Sweet" and "To Serve Man" for their punch-in-the-gut, final line, twist endings.